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1. Concept and Elements. This term, which nowadays is commonly, though not exclusively used for the political community, came into general currency from the 16th century onwards. Previous to this, terms such as πόλις, civitas, regnum, regimen prevailed (the “government” is still the more usual term in the English-speaking world). It signifies the permanent supra-familial way of life of a human grouping which is historically individualized through a variety of factors, cultural, geographic and biological, and in which the positive …